NEW HELL WEEK UPDATE - Interstellar Marines resurrects the old school tactical FPS, offering a unique blend of co-op, role-playing*, and nonlinear gameplay. Play co-op or multiplayer on servers around the world.

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Early Access Game

Get instant access and start playing; get involved with this game as it develops.

Note: This Early Access game is not complete and may or may not change further. If you are not excited to play this game in its current state, then you
should wait to see if the game progresses further in development. Learn more

What the developers have to say:

Why Early Access?

“We have this crazy idea that an independent game developer can develop something the size and quality of a AAA game, by having the community take the role of publisher. We call this concept AAA-Indie. This gives players the game they want, instead of the game a greedy publisher wants them to have. We know Interstellar Marines is going to take a long time to make, after all we’re making a AAA game without the size or resources of a AAA studio. So rather than toiling away behind closed doors we want to spend this time with you, the player, and share the experience all the way from pre-alpha to the release version.”

Approximately how long will this game be in Early Access?

“This is for the love of the game, not the money. We'll be in Early Access until we have delivered our ambitious vision or Valve decides to shut down Early Access. So... a long friggin time.”

How is the full version planned to differ from the Early Access version?

“Spearhead and Frontliner Editions will only be available in Early Access for those brave enough to support our quest to create a AAA-Indie game! For the full version we plan on having a Regular and Deluxe Edition. As far as features our plans for the full version include:

Interactive StorylineA cinematic narrative centered around first contact with another sentient species, where your choices and actions will have consequences.

The full version will be more SP/Co-op focused than the current Early Access version where we are implementing and testing new mechanics primarily in a PvP multiplayer environment.”

What is the current state of the Early Access version?

“The game is in pre-alpha and players can expect to experience bugs, missing features, incomplete content, and some game breaking issues. Still, we have a couple community members with over a thousand hours in-game, and many with hundreds of hours. In the portion of the game currently available you are training in a top secret facility 2km beneath Groom Lake Nevada. These are the features you can experience right now:

Hell Week Event

2 SP/Co-op Campaign Missions*

4 Difficulty Levels

5 Challenge Missions

9 Multiplayer Maps

Dynamic Environment Effects

3 PvP Game Modes

100% Dynamic Lighting

Destructible Light Fixtures

Full-body Character Simulation

Visor Affected by Fog, Dust, and Rain

Spectator Mode

Movie Mode

Playground Mode

3 weapons**

Tactical Laser

Tactical Flashlight

Ragdoll Physics

28 Steam Achievements

Dedicated Servers Worldwide

*(Currently available as stand-alone missions)
**(pistol currently uses placeholder model)

We have a small but active multiplayer community. Look HERE to see when the most people will be on for you to play with, it is usually during the evenings in North America and Europe. There is also a budding esports scene at www.phyregaming.com that we sponsor.”

Will the game be priced differently during and after Early Access?

“We intend for the price to follow the value of the game. Expect it to gradually rise as we ship new content, but we may need to lower the price on rare occasions to correct for market conditions.”

How are you planning on involving the Community in your development process?

“The community can follow our progress on the Trello Board and vote for features they want to see. They will also be able to report and track bugs once we choose a bug tracking software. Players can also interact with the developers on the forums, in bi-weekly community get-togethers on our TeamSpeak Server, and at hosted esports events as soon as game features support it.”

Buy Interstellar Marines

Buy Interstellar Marines - Spearhead Edition

Early Access to Interstellar Marines including all future updates and expansions + Join the Spearhead unit (unique honorary game profile) + Your username in the Hall of Honor and your name in the credits of the game + Digital download of the Interstellar Marines: The Beginning soundtrack and all future soundtracks + Digital download of art book when it’s ready + Get 1 extra Interstellar Marines Steam Key to gift to a friend.

July 24

We now have the game running in Unity 5, allowing improved performance and visuals. Nucleus is now back for COOP play, and we were able to include the Linux version in this update. (We thought it would be delayed earlier if you didn’t know.)

For Update 20, we listened to your feedback about two things people really wanted: Improved performance and fixing Nucleus so to play with your friends in coop. We’ll be continuously listening to you in the forums, social media, and on our Trello page.

The next step we want to do is improve performance even more with Speedtree and boost the graphics even more with physically based shaders, global illumination, linear lighting and deferred rendering 2.0.

FOR THE LOVE OF THE GAME,
Your Team at Zero Point Software

What's New

ADDED: Updated code base to Unity 5 from Unity 4
ADDED: OSM are now the number 1 clan after winning season 1 of the competitive league
Improvements

UPDATED: Nucleus map has been fixed, and coop servers are up
UPDATED: Enlisted profile name has been changed to Frontlinter
UPDATED: Hell Week main menu button moved to below multiplayer button

**SPECIAL NOTE** This update contains the upgrade from Unity 4 to Unity 5. We have fixed most of the bugs, and need your help to find any more. Please let us know of any bugs you find via our support email: support@zeropointsoft.com. Thank you!

The mission overview is currently a place-holder, and will be completed in a later update

When viewed up-close, some CTR heads may increase in size

Rag doll physics, and CTR dismemberment on death, need fine tuning

Water and some vegetation are not affected by fog, which can lead to them looking black from a distance

When looking down, snow particles may disappear

Hell Week combat points are currently not recorded in Steam leaderboards

Some crates may require several attempts to open

Players may sometimes fall through the floor of a map

VOIP does not work on coop

Game may temporarily freeze when players join the server

Players joining within a few seconds of a Hell Week starting may get an error that they cannot join. This is due to out-of-sync clocks. Please wait a few seconds and rejoin

Some new achievements and TP rewards may not work. We're investigating

The HUD names and kill messages will be clipped on aspect ratios that are less wide than 16:10

The game will stop updating when switching out of fullscreen in Windows. If you are on a moving elevator or platform, this will cause you to fall through it

View jittering may occur when jumping on lossy networks

Audio may cut off partially/completely on weapon/helmet sounds

Other players will seem to float above or interpenetrate while standing on a moving dynamic platforms (network smoothing will exaggerate this effect)

When joining an in-progress The NeuroGen Incident game, additional waypoints may be visible

Player may sometimes spawn with no ammo in one or both weapons. Reloading fixes this

July 7

We’re renewing our commitment to AAA Indie with ODD 2.0 you’re going to be able to see what we’re working on along with our progress towards the update. So check out our Trello Board! and watch as we progress towards each release date.

UPDATE 20

It’s finally time for the big Unity 5 upgrade! It was a big goal that kept showing its head with performance issues and now it’ll be answered. In addition to improved performance, we’ll be beginning new features and expanding on to Hell Week. We’ll be adding the unnerving killing machines (aka CTRs) into Hell Week, one capability that we can add in without destroying the framerate thanks to Unity 5! We’ll also be including a endgame for the final 4 Marines as well as DOORS! That last one may not sound as exciting but tactical shooters need doors unlike other games we won’t mention by name…

STORE PAGE UPDATED

Our store page hasn’t changed a whole lot since going on Early Access so using feedback from you guys we have made some adjustments to help people make the best buying decision for them. A big change that deserves special notice is the price reduction! We’ve lowered the price for Interstellar Marines to reflect market conditions with all the new games that have come up on Early Access since the old prices were set.

If you’ve purchased the Regular Edition of Interstellar Marines you now have the Frontliner Edition. We’re doing this to give people who buy in Early Access something special a little further down the road, and so we have the “Regular Edition” title available for use when we get out of Early Access with the full release.

We hope you enjoy all the new changes and (insert inspirational comment here)

Interstellar Marines

Frontliner Edition is an Early Access exclusive. Your Purchase includes:

Early Access – be part of the development of Interstellar Marines and provide your feedback and suggestions as we expand the game update after update.

Frontliner identity - An early access exclusive profile on our site and in Interstellar Marines.*

Upgradable - No need to re-buy, you can own Spearhead Edition with a simple upgrade.

All In – receive all future updates and expansions completely free of charge.

*Not available yet

Interstellar Marines - Spearhead Edition

Spearhead Edition is an Early Access exclusive. In addition to Early Access to Interstellar Marines (including all future updates and expansions), the Spearhead Edition includes:

Spearhead identity – A unique honorary game profile that with time will grant you access to special skins, helmets, and weapons. (does not alter gameplay).*

Hall of Honor & Credits – Your name will be acknowledged in a special in-game Hall of Honor and you’ll also get your name in the credits.*

Digital Soundtracks – Download the Interstellar Marines: The Beginning soundtrack as well as all future soundtracks as they are released.

Extra Steam Key – You’ll receive an additional copy of Interstellar Marines to trade or gift to a friend.

Access to Beta Builds of New Updates – Occasionally Spearhead owners receive access to early beta builds of new updates before they're released publicly, allowing you to experience new content in advance!

Digital Concept Art – You’ll receive early copies of concept art and other images in a special Spearhead folder on your hard drive.

*Not available yet

Steam Greenlight

Making The Game

We'll be posting development progress on our Trello board, allowing you to see what we're working on and give some input on what we're doing and what you'd like to see.

About This Game

Interstellar Marines resurrects the old school tactical FPS, offering a unique blend of co-op, role-playing*, and non-linear gameplay. Set in a believable future, you take on the role of an elite operative handpicked to join Project IM, a top secret military program being assembled to protect mankind from all dangers outside our solar system.

Interstellar Marines is inspired by movies such as Aliens, Starship Troopers and Final Fantasy; and games such as Half-Life, System Shock 2, and Rainbow Six 3: Raven Shield. Interstellar Marines is all about evolving the FPS recipe with all the inspirations we've assimilated since the birth of the genre. Our goal is an evolutionary leap forward driven by our compulsive interest in science fiction, role-playing, military realism, and respect for first person immersion.

*role-playing not yet implemented

Welcome to Project: IM

Since man first raised his head to the stars above, he has dreamed of conquering space. Interstellar Marines is the age old dream come true. It is the dawn of the 22nd century, a time of great hopes and expectations. The discovery of a new and inexhaustible well of power known as Zero Point Energy has revolutionized space travel. Man has escaped the confines of Mother Earth, and gone on to colonize the solar system.

But far away from public awareness an ambitious military project has already taken Man beyond the final frontier, and into the regions of the stars. The powerful Interplanetary Treaty Organization, ITO, is secretly constructing the first human settlement in another star system. You are a new member of the Interstellar Marines, a secret battalion within the ITO special forces created to protect humanity against potential threats from the confines of the unknown universe.

Now gear up Marine, we’ve got training to do! Welcome to Project IM.

New Hell Week Event

Featuring 9 New and unique areas where 64 players battle until only 4 are left standing! This event runs every 3 hours in each timezone, so there’s always one somewhere in the world starting at the top of every hour. We also have a Steam Leaderboard for Hell Week here which tracks Combat Points globally, monthly, and survivors of Hell Week. We'll let you know more about Hell Week Finals when it’s ready.

7 Singleplayer/Co-op Missions

Play 5 co-op and single-player missions against unscripted AI with dynamic environment effects or two pivotal missions inside the Interstellar Marines universe, The NeuroGen Incident and Assault on Starcrown Aerospace. Play singleplayer or co-op with up to three friends in intense action with more co-op and singleplayer missions to come!

9 Unique Multiplayer Maps Across 3 Game Modes

Take your friends out in Deadlock, Deathmatch, and Team Deathmatch on maps featuring dynamic environment effects such as time of day, rain, thunder and lightning, emergency lighting, fire alarms, moving platforms etc.

Realistic Simulation

With a physics-based dynamic character controller there are no floating hands, and you can even see your feet! The physically present combat helmet has a HUD projected onto the visor and is affected by dust, rain, fogging, and damage. Aim down the sight for the long shots and use the tactical laser to assist aim when hip firing, as there are no artificial crosshairs to break immersion. Use the intuitive crouch and cover system; spacebar (default) peeks over cover, and looking down leans you forward to see over ledges. You can also shoot out the lights and prowl in darkness, or use the tactical flashlight if you’re afraid of the dark.

We hope you enjoy the game, and look forward to developing it with you as we progress through Early Access!

Interstellar Marines is very polished, the gameplay is fun, controls are tight.

However the devs seem more preoccupied with developping the pvp aspect of the game, despite adventising itself as an "old school, co op, roleplaying, non linear gameplay" game, it seems to have forgotten that entirely and the past updates have been PVP orientated.

I personally think that this game has tremedous potential (hence the positive rating), but to reach that potential the devs have to realize that not a lot of people are interested in another deathmatch first person shooter. They need to develop the co op side of things since thats there the true potential is.

Had a shoot out with friends in a private co-op session last time I played, tried to play this week only to see that im apparently banned from every server, emailed support and got this back ↓ ↓ ↓" Your account was banned a few months ago for excessive team killing. We can remove you from this list by resetting your stats, but please be aware if your account appears on the excessive team kill list again we would have to permanently ban it."

A decent indie game that, for the most part, provides excellent co-op and single player game play with a little extra multiplayer on the side that is also a great time-waster. I do recommend it only because I'd like to see this game grow & expand. Unfortunately, it's an early access game. I normally do not like early access games, especially since most of them seem to not progress any further. However, despite the extremely slow development this game has been getting, it's on a steady course to becoming a complete game somewhere down the road. I already enjoy this game as is, and imagining it in it's complete stage years from now as a tactical shooter in a realistic sci-fi future excites me.

The community is fairly small and unless you've got a few friends to play with you're likely going to spend most of your time here in early access fooling around in single player fighting robots in a supposed "training simulation" as candidates for the Interstellar Marine program as we await the story to develop. There are two campaign missions plus two maps that host a terrorist hunt style mode, an escape mode, and a gauntlet mode of sorts. The multiplayer is what you would expect in a tactical FPS. There are some frame rate issues I've noticed.

All in all, if you got some money to spend and are looking to waste some time alone or with freinds, I'd definately recommend checking this out.

**This is my current review as the state it now is. This review will be edited along the way if necessary.**

After a long torment I've decided to quit IM for good. The game is just to broken to be played, and I don't feel like playing a broken game.

The reason of this is just the pure agony of playing but not able to play it fully because of the many glitches, bugs, exploits et cetera. With the new update, the game has broken down to the worst state since 2013.

Hell Week is still broken. The loot crates still don't function properly and even with the introduction of having the bots roam the halls, it's not good enough. The many bugs in the maps are too painful to handle. The maps, although looking impressive, together with the joined server structure is the most polished thing about this game.

Multiplayer is also broken till the bone. Textures went missing, such as water, trees and even glass. The mechanics for sprinting are still broken. Stamina runs out way too fast if you're not playing on a server sitting right next to you.

EDIT: Unity 5, however, now has a better fps of 60 due to a fault on my part. (pc was running on intergrated graphics instead of the card. Which is the blame for my laptop.)

The AI still has major flaws. Even in the Realistic setting (read: most difficult they can offer) it's easy to kill off all the bots in my perspective. They fail to understand the simplest of things such as standing on a bunch of stairs, hiding under them, covering and too many things. If there's no one to play with on a normal day you're stuck with the dumb AI that fails to give you any gaming experience but a point and click adventure. The ones that do give you a challenge, the Melee bots, oneshot you while you are defenseless without any melee whatsoever because all you have is three guns.

About those three guns: these things have to my experience been the most inaccurate things since the blunderbus. It all is depending on luck and evading bullets, if any, to get kills. If you don't strafe you're in for quite the disappointment when you are facing a tr-100 who knows the rules of the game. Not a single game I have played has such inaccurate sights as these guns. You don't shoot exactly where you're pointing. More like in a general direction and hope something hits. I've shot real guns and they don't do that when you move your aim like that. It's pure ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ting.

Single player campaign and co-op are general. Kill bots. Get cards. Make it out alive. Same AI. They don't know the maps. It's point and click adventure all over again, with some minor melee that offer you the challenge but you can't defend yourself against them. Making it boring.

All in all: ZPS needs to get their stuff straight and actually start fixing instead of adding new content. The game, as is currently, is broken. I'd actually pirate an older version of the game and play that instead of this. It's sad that they don't support creating your own server, otherwise I'd be long gone of the current state of the game.

A little side note about competitive: that was a side I was actually really excited about. But now... I don't feel like playing the game at all, let alone that I want to play for prizes which are currently based on the favor of the game. I've lost the love of the game. I hope ZPS can patch it up and make me love the game I bought and played for so many hours again.